Latest news with #waterbill
CTV News
13 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Higher water bills sinking in for Winnipeg homeowners
The City of Winnipeg has upped its rates for water and sewer services and people are seeing the jump in their bills. CTV's Jeff Keele reports. Bernie Lemanski rarely waters his grass, and when he does, there's not much of a yard anyway. He lives with his brother and their water usage is low. 'The only thing you do is the dishwasher, washer and dryer and a shower,' said Lemanski. So it was sticker shock when he opened his quarterly water bill from the City of Winnipeg. 'I was just flabbergasted, in shock, like I couldn't believe it,' he said. Last quarter he paid $157 dollars and this quarter the bill is $269 dollars. 'Give me a break,' said Lemanski. 'What are they thinking?' Other homeowners are flooding Facebook with comments too, many asking the same question as Lemanski. 'I'd like to know why, why they increased it that high,' he said. Winnipeg's water and waste committee chair Ross Eadie says some people missed the discussion and debate around this issue at City Hall this year. 'It is catching people off guard,' said Eadie. In March, city council approved new sewer and water rate hikes to help fund the $3 billion north sewage treatment plant. There is also a new levy. A $23 per quarter fee was eliminated, but replaced with a higher $63 per quarter waste management fee, to pay for services like garbage, recycling, green carts, yard waste and damaged carts. It's a new utility model to take the heat off property tax bills. 'For the waste management we looked at here's what the cost is, we have contractors who pick up and collect your garbage and there's all kinds of costs related to it,' said Eadie. Things could have been worse. The mayor and council rejected a proposal to jack water and sewer rates by a $1,000 a year for a family of four. Still, Lemanski says the approved rates and fees are tough to swallow. 'A lot of single parents and they're on their own and they're living on a fixed income and they can't afford this kind of increase.'
CBC
4 days ago
- General
- CBC
City equipment failure leaves Toronto senior with $2.4K water bill
Social Sharing A Toronto senior who was shocked to receive a nearly $2,4000 water bill last month says she can't afford to pay it, and the City of Toronto was of little help despite previous public comments it would assist homeowners in her situation. After contacting the city, Iluminada Aguilar, 76, learned her bill was so high because it was an adjusted catch-up bill due to a known equipment failure affecting thousands of Toronto homeowners. Aguilar's water meter transmission unit (MTU) stopped working and so her home's water usage was being estimated based on historic use, but those amounts were too low, resulting in the large bill to make up the difference. "It's not fair," Aguilar said. "I don't have the money to pay for it." City staff have publicly promised payment plans would be available for customers who receive large catch-up bills and require flexibility to pay them. But that promise wasn't extended to Aguilar until after CBC Toronto contacted the city about her case. Aguilar's fight with the city comes nearly a year after CBC first reported on MTUs failing prematurely. After that, the city revealed it would need to replace all 470,000 across Toronto. As of April 2025, more than half of the MTUs have failed, according to a city staff report. While water meters themselves continue to function properly, the failing transmitters mean water usage information is not being sent to the city, which has resulted in estimated bills or, in some cases, no bills at all. The city says estimations are typically accurate but in cases when they aren't, some customers, like Aguilar, end up with bills to make up the difference. 'This is what I get?' Aguilar has lived in her Parkdale home for more than 30 years. She lives off a pension and rents out her upstairs floor to help cover costs. When she contacted the city last month, Aguilar learned her MTU stopped working in July 2022 and, because she's signed up for automatic payments, she'd been paying estimated bills that typically amounted to around $2,500 per year. WATCH | Iluminada Aguilar worries about $2,400 water bill: Toronto senior struggling to pay $2.4K water bill after city equipment failed 6 minutes ago Duration 2:55 Iluminada Aguilar, who is fighting a catch-up water bill thanks to failing equipment, says the city has been of little help despite staff publicly telling residents it would offer flexibility. When a city technician came to her home in April to deal with an unrelated water issue, they also replaced the batteries in her transmitter, according to her tenant Adam Wynne, who has been helping her deal with the issue. A few weeks later, and just 39 days after her previous billing cycle, Aguilar got another bill for $2,392.89 — due in less than a month. "For a senior on a fixed income, having a demand that they pay [close to] $2,500 with [limited] notice … is just absurd," Wynne said. He and Aguilar contacted the city to get answers and payment flexibility, but they say the city was of little help. "I've lived here for the longest time in my life and this is what I get?" Aguilar said. City extends Aguilar's due date After CBC contacted the City of Toronto about Aguilar's case, a spokesperson said in a statement that staff would reach out to Aguilar to apologize and establish a payment plan. "We recognize the inconvenience and frustration this caused the resident and are taking immediate steps to correct the issue," said Russell Baker via email. He said staff will also "review the city's processes to help prevent similar issues in the future." The next day, a representative from revenue services called Aguilar. Wynne said the person offered an informal payment plan, in which the due date has been extended, but it's not entirely clear how long Aguilar has to pay the bill in full. "We have more questions than answers at this point," Wynne said. He also said it doesn't seem like the city has an actual mechanism in place for catch-up bills to be paid in installments, despite the city publicly touting payment plans. Baker said the city is continuing to work with Aguilar to address the issue. At an infrastructure and environment committee meeting last October, Lou Di Gironimo, general manager for Toronto Water, said a dedicated team was in place to manage a process allowing people to set up payment plans should they receive a catch-up bill. "If there's some concerns about billing and looking at some payment plans or adjustments, the staff with revenue services will work with residents to manage that issue," he said. It's not clear why more flexibility with the bill wasn't originally extended to Aguilar. 11,000 to 12,000 MTUs failing per month, city report New water meters and transmitters were installed across the city between 2010 and 2015. The MTUs were supposed to have a lifespan of about 20 years, but their batteries have begun to fail around the 11 to 12 year mark. MTUs are failing at a faster rate than previously, according to an April city report. Between 11,000 and 12,000 MTUs stop working each month, it says, compared to between 5,000 and 8,000 per month last fall. "Currently, over 50 per cent (248,000) of the city's 470,000 MTUs have failed, and, due to operational challenges such as a backlog of replacement MTUs, the city has increased its reliance on estimated billing," the report says. "Toronto Water's ability to replace MTUs is constrained by the availability of internal labour, MTUs, and field programming tools." Last fall, the city approved $5.6 million in emergency spending to pay for the first wave of MTU replacements from the manufacturer, Aclara Technologies, as well as $3 million while staff work to create a long-term plan. Calls for more transparency The city's overall communication about the issue is concerning, Wynne said. "It's rather opaque," he said. "You don't just add on two-and-a-half years of adjusted bill usage within one billing cycle." The city did not answer CBC's questions about how much the total cost will be to replace the MTUs, how many have been replaced so far, or what the timeline is to complete the work. The city should be more transparent, especially when it comes to an issue affecting so many people, says Gage Haubrich with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. "When the city's not being open about what its plans are for the future, that further erodes that trust," Haubrich said. Baker, the city's spokesperson, said the city is working on a long-term strategy to address the issue, but the details remain confidential due to "ongoing negotiations."
CTV News
10-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Ottawa senior stunned by $1,500 water bill
Paul Malouin says his City of Ottawa water bill for June was $1,547, which he believes was caused by a leaky toilet in his basement. (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa) A local man says he was shocked to receive a $1,547 water bill, more than 15 times higher than the usual, all because of a silent leak in a toilet in his basement. Paul Malouin says he first laughed when he opened the envelope last week. 'I thought, it's a house. Like I would have had a flood. I would have had a pool sitting somewhere,' he said. He contacted the City of Ottawa to find out what went wrong. They told him he has no choice but to pay the bill. 'This nice young lady calls me, and she says, 'Oh yes, well, it's bylaw. And now that it's a bylaw, you can't get any kind of rebate. You have to pay the full bill. No one's allowed to go away without paying the full bill, no matter what,'' he said. Malouin says he contacted the mayor's office hoping someone could help but hasn't heard back. Adding to his frustration, Malouin says he was told he could have registered to receive high-usage alerts in advance. 'She says to me, 'Oh, but, you know, you could have registered for this,'' Malouin said. Malouin says he had no idea this was an option and that he should have been warned when his water started to abnormally spike. According to the City of Ottawa, residents can register for consumption alerts by signing into their My Service Ottawa account and selecting 'alert subscription.' The system can notify users by email when usage is consistent over seven days, exceeds average daily use, or surpasses a set threshold. Residents can also track daily and hourly water use and compare past bills. Malouin says this should be automatic for everyone. 'Why isn't it you get 20 per cent over, we send you a warning?' he said. 'You don't wait until someone has 15 months in one bill.' He says the problem was most likely a newer toilet in a downstairs apartment he rarely uses. 'It's a brand-new toilet, too. Very new. And it's very quiet.' Water bill Paul Malouin says he believes a leaky toilet in his basement was the source of a spike in water usage, leading to a $1,500 water bill. (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa) He hasn't paid the bill yet, but says he'll likely have no choice. 'This is a senior,' says Malouin.' He's trying to live in his house alone. And you're going to give him a bill that's 15 months of water? How is that possible?' Malouin believes others could be vulnerable, too. He says he's half deaf and wouldn't have heard the quiet leak, especially in a toilet located far from his living space. 'It doesn't make sense that you would allow that to happen without saying there's something wrong here.' Malouin has lived in this house for almost 40 years and has an average water bill of about $90 every two months.
CBS News
05-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Baltimore County residents to see 4.9% water rate hike
Baltimore County residents can expect their water bills to go up again this summer. The Baltimore City Board of Estimates (BOE) approved a 4.9% rate increase to water utility costs for Baltimore County residents beginning in July. Similar rate increases took effect in 2023 and in 2021. "That 5% increase has been going on for about four years, which we're seeing with their rates. That has narrowed that gap in what the city and county residents see in their bill significantly," said Matthew Garbark, the Interim Deputy Director at the Baltimore Department of Public Works (DPW). Baltimore City and Baltimore County share water and some sewer systems, which are managed by the city. "This has been in place for almost a century now, and that is actually state law,'' Garbark said. Baltimore County residents react to water rate increase Longtime Baltimore County resident Maria Cadden said she's lived in the area for about 30 years and wasn't surprised to find out her water bill will go up. "It doesn't really 4%, you know, people that are struggling, but obviously, but to me, I always thought it was a little low compared to the city rate," Cadden said. "I guess everything's kind of going up in price," added Baltimore County resident Isabel Rodriguez. "So I don't know why I expected water bills not to just stay the same. But I'm sure my mom's not gonna be happy about it happening in the county either." Garbark told the Board on Wednesday that the increase will help close the gap between what county and city residents pay. "Based on the Water Governance Task Force, the last report that they did. The city rate payer and the county rate payer are within just about $1 or two of each other —what they pay just for water," Garbark said. Baltimore County leaders told WJZ that they feel their residents have next to no control. In a statement to WJZ, Baltimore County District 5 representative Councilman David Marks explained this is something they've worked to change. "In 2019, the Baltimore County Council urged the state legislature to create a regional water authority so there would be greater input by all residents," Marks wrote. "There has been next to no action on this initiative, which should be frustrating to all ratepayers." Baltimore City water rate increase Baltimore City approved increases to its own water, sewer, and stormwater bills earlier this year. In January, DPW's multi-year water and sewer rate increase plan was approved by the city's spending board. The BOE allowed the public to comment before voting 4-0 to raise water and sewer bills over the next three years. '"We are roughly looking at a $12 monthly increase right now – roughly $130 to $142 dollars for both water and wastewater for a family of four in the city of Baltimore," said DPW Director Khalil Zaied. Baltimore residents will see a 3% rise in their monthly water bill and a 15% sewer rate increase, beginning February 1. The increases in water and sewer rates will grow to 9% in FY26 and FY27, according to DPW. DPW said the water and sewer rate increase is necessary to help maintain the city's financial stability and update infrastructure and projects as its water and wastewater system ages. Officials said the department will be launching a $1.9 billion, six-year improvement program to address some critical infrastructure needs. The plan will focus on replacing water mains, reducing sewer overflows, and modernizing operations.
Daily Mail
30-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
How you are being forced to pay for Australia's mega population surge four times a year
Those living in Australia's most populous city can expect a steep increase in their water bills as utilities struggle to keep up with immigration-fuelled population growth. Sydney Water had planned to increase its customers' bills by 18 per cent from October 1, under its 2025 to 2030 plan. While the application for the hefty rate rise was blocked by the state's Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), residents will still be slapped with a six per cent increase - more than double the 2.4 per cent inflation rate. The utility pointed to huge population growth as justification for the increase, which equates to about $73 for a typical bill. A Sydney Water board meeting last year warned of the strain on infrastructure in the city's outer suburbs, which house a higher proportion of new migrants. 'The biggest drivers behind Sydney Water's planned investments are growth and renewing existing infrastructure,' the meeting minutes said. 'Most of this investment will support growth in both new and established areas – especially in western Sydney, where development is booming and where population growth is pushing existing water and wastewater systems to their limits.' To cope with the population surge, Sydney Water expected the average bill to rise by $226 during the next financial year, and by $111 every year until 2029-30. 'We know this may cause payment difficulties for some of our customers. We have programs in place to assist them,' the provider said. 'We'll deliver services to 300,000 new homes to support the NSW government's growth ambitions, and our growing population and cities.' Relief is unlikely in the coming five years, with IPART proposing a 4.6 per cent annual increase in Sydney Water bills each year, subject to community feedback. This would see homeowners and renters pay an average of $1,293 a year in 2025-26 rising to $1,527 in 2029-30, before inflation is even factored in. Like Sydney Water, IPART chair Carmel Donnelly acknowledged increases in water bills were necessary to fund infrastructure upgrades amid strong population growth. 'We have set draft prices that are lower than Sydney Water's proposed prices,' she said. 'However, some increase is necessary to allow Sydney Water's services and infrastructure to keep pace with Sydney's growth and deliver safe, reliable services that meet community expectations.' Overseas migrants are accounting for more than 80 per cent of the population growth in Sydney and Melbourne - putting pressure on transport and water infrastructure. Immigration levels were still high in the year to March with 437,440 people moving to Australia on a net permanent and long-term basis, with this net figure factoring in departures including skilled migrants and international students. In Sydney, Australia's most populated big city, 120,886 overseas migrants moved in during the last financial year - making up 81 per cent of the net population increase factoring in births and those who moved interstate. In Melbourne, 121,240 migrants moved in during the same period, making up 80.7 per cent of the population growth. Both cities are overcrowded with 41,086 Sydney residents leaving for another part of Australia over the year to escape the congestion and unaffordable housing. Despite that exodus, Sydney's population is still increasing by two per cent a year in a city that is already home to 5.5million people. Building activity is also failing to keep pace with Anthony Albanese's plan to build 1.2million homes over five years, or an average of 240,000 a year. But in the year to April, just 182,034 new homes were approved, new Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Friday revealed. Morgan Begg, the director of research at the Institute of Public Affairs think tank, said new housing supply was likely to fall further behind population growth. 'With housing approvals so low, Australia is being set up for a disaster, as in the last three years to June 2025, net migration is on track to be 1.3million, meaning the gap between demand and supply is drifting further apart,' he said.
